Mingus High School Competition

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Friday April 22, 2011 is the birthday of Charles Mingus.

Nationwide celebrations will be held. Two are highlighted below.

APRIL 22, 2011 at 8pm Eastern

WBGO 88.3FM NY will broadcast nationally the Mingus Orchestra concert, conducted by Gunther Schuller and recorded at St. Bartholomew’s Church on Park Avenue, February 19, 2011 in connection with theCharles Mingus High School Competition & Festival. The program will be hosted by Michael Bourne. If you aren’t in NY, you can listen in on the web at that time at WBGO.org.

By Jason Rabin “For the Manhattan School of Music, February means Mingus, Mingus, Mingus! In partnership with Let My Children Hear Music/The Charles Mingus Institute, the school is hosting its 3rd annual Charles Mingus High School Competition and Festival, February 18-21.”

Mingus Big Band Wins Grammy!
Mingus High School Competition & Festival at Manhattan School of Music
Mingus Orchestra Concert at St. Bart’s

NEW YORK, February 15, 2011—On Sunday, February 13, 2011,
the 53rd Annual GRAMMY® Awards honored Mingus
Big Band Live at Jazz Standard as the “Best Large Jazz Ensemble
Album.”

Co-produced by Sue Mingus and Seth Abramson, Mingus Big Band Live at Jazz Standard
marks the 10th Mingus Big Band recording, seven of which have been nominated
for Grammys. It is the first win for Mingus music, though legendary jazz
composer Charles Mingus (1922-1979) himself received a Grammy for the liner
notes on his album Let My Children Hear
Music and a posthumous Lifetime Achievement Award in 1997, and in 1999 the
album Mingus Dynasty (1959) was
inducted in the Grammy Hall of Fame.

This concert celebrates the fiftieth anniversary of seminal
1959 albums Mingus Dynasty, Mingus Ah Um, and Blues & Politics, and was originally broadcast live on Toast Of The Nation from NPR Music,
produced by Mark Schramm, Thurston Briscoe and Becca Pulliam for WBGO under the
musical direction of Sue Mingus.

Saturday, February 19, 2011, this same team will record the
Mingus Orchestra live at St. Bartholomew’s Church for later broadcast on WBGO.
The concert will feature several Mingus compositions conducted by Gunther
Schuller with special guest harpist Edmar Castaneda. This concert is produced
by Let My Children Hear Music (The Charles Mingus Institute) and made possible
by the National Endowment for the Arts as part of American Masterpieces: Three Centuries of Artistic Genius.

The Mingus Big Band also performs live in concert at Jazz
Standard this week from Friday, Feb 18 – Sunday, Feb 20, designed to correspond
with the 2011 Charles Mingus High School Competition at Manhattan School of
Music.

“It’s going to be a huge experience,” said Medfield junior Luke Rosenfeld, who plays piano in the jazz band. “Playing with the Mingus Big Band is a once-in-a-lifetime experience. It’s not something you can just do every day.”…“The seniors were especially overjoyed because it’s their last year and some of them had been selected as part of the Essentially Ellington [high school jazz band] competition when they were freshmen,” he said. “The Mingus competition is very similar…and they got to play with [trumpeter] Wynton Marsalis and other phenomenal artists. We’ve been practicing Charles Mingus’s music for a few months now; we are very excited.”During the master clinics, a member of the Mingus Big Band will work individually with students.“Being taught by them is going to be huge,” said Rosenfeld, who has been playing piano for 10 years….“The students have really grown to love Mingus’s music and have become passionate about it,” said Olsen. “It’s such a unique experience for these students to hang out and interact with these famous musicians in New York City and get to meet other inspired high-level musicians from around the country.”

Adam Linz, Combo director and a staunch advocate for the music of Charles Mingus, couldn’t be happier. “The Mingus High School Competition is one of the most high profile jazz gatherings in the world…The music of Mingus somehow taps into the youth of America. I think it is the emphasis on energy and the band concept that draw young people to his music. It requires that you step up and be heard and not hide in a section. It also promotes individuality among the people that tackle it. The meek need not apply. So we are very excited to go to NYC and meet other young people from around the country that share our love for this man and his music! We are also excited to show everyone our commitment to Mingus in the lives of young people.” Notes MacPhail President/Chief Operating Officer Paul Babcock, “This is a terrific opportunity for the students in the Dakota Combo. They have great passion and enthusiasm for playing jazz and especially have developed a great love for playing the music of Charles Mingus. It’s an honor have the Dakota Combo perform at the Mingus competition and be selected among the excellent high school jazz groups from across the country.””I’m absolutely thrilled,” said saxophonist Danny Hupp. “To be thrown into an environment where everyone has the same passion as you is exciting, but also somewhat terrifying. I honestly cannot wait.”Adds pianist Quentin Tschofen, “I’m really looking forward to the competition and workshops. What’s particularly exciting is the opportunity to play jazz in New York among a lot of people who really love the art form…And now we need to rehearse!”

*Nationwide Charles Mingus High School Competition*Four-Day Festival Held in New York City February 12-15, 2010*Mingus Gospel Concert at St. Bart’sFOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
December 2, 2009 – New York, NY
Let My Children Hear Music/The Charles Mingus Institute, a New York City-based 501(c)(3) non-profit organization devoted to expanding and promoting the legacy of Charles Mingus, announces exciting lineup for Charles Mingus High School Competition and weekend festival.This year’s Competition was expanded to include high school students nationwide and extend their New York experience beyond the Manhattan School of Music, where the Competition and clinics will be held. More activities were added for New York residents to make this a true festival celebrating Mingus music.

A full day of clinics and workshops will take place at the Manhattan School of Music on Saturday. There will be master classes for instruments and sections plus lectures and clinics in connection with Mingus music exploring themes such as “Thematic Development in Improvisation” and “Deconstructing Melody,” “The
Blues at the Heart of Mingus, a special Band Director’s Workshop directed by Justin DiCioccio, and a student jam with Mingus musicians. Prominent educators and musicians who are deeply familiar with Mingus music will oversee these events.

On Saturday night there will be an extraordinary public concert of Mingus gospel music at the landmark St. Bartholomew’s (St. Bart’s) Church on Park Avenue and 50th Street. This unique event will not only return Mingus music to its blues & gospel church roots, but will feature the sort of instrumentation—harp, bassoon, French horn, bass clarinet (along with the more familiar trumpet, trombone and saxophones)—that illustrates Mingus’s long-time mission to open up the instrumental possibilities so children can be inspired to play in symphony orchestras as well as jazz bands. The concert will include such rousing numbers as “Better Get Hit In Your Soul,” “Wednesday Night Prayer Meeting,” “Ecclusiastics,” “Consider Me, Oh Lord” (from a Langston Hughes collaboration), and much more. There will also be a reception for high school participants prior to the concert and opening remarks by Gunther Schuller.

On Sunday the daylong Mingus High School Competition will feature the battle between the top 12 big bands and combos from around the country and a concert by the MSM Mingus Combo. Monday the Mingus Big Band performs at Jazz Standard as part of its regular weekly residency.

All participants, whether finalists or not, are invited to attend all weekend events. The Competition provides an exceptional musical experience for its participants and an important addition to the many cultural attractions in New York City. It has already become a much-anticipated part of the national and local cultural landscape, celebrating New York as the arts capital of the world and Charles Mingus as one of our most significant artists.

Please call 212-736-4749 for more information.

Friday, Feb 12: TBA
Saturday, Feb 13: Full day of clinics, master classes, and jams at Manhattan
School of Music. Evening Mingus concert at St. Bartholomew’s (St. Bart’s) Church
bringing Mingus music back to its gospel & blues roots and featuring special
instrumentation
Sunday, Feb 14: Mingus High School Competition at Manhattan School of Music.
Concert by MSM Mingus Combo
Monday, Feb 15: Mingus Big Band at Jazz Standard

“Matt Muirhead, Foxboro High School Jazz Ensemble, Concert Band and other groups, leaves for California Saturday to play with an elite student jazz band as part of the 52nd annual Grammy awards celebration.And from Feb. 12-15, Muirhead will be with a Foxboro High jazz quintet competing in the annual Charles Mingus Jazz Competition in New York City.The 17-year-old, who began playing trumpet in fifth grade, enjoys all types of music but is heavily focused on jazz.”Jazz provides a level of intimacy, democracy and interaction that you don’t necessarily feel in other genres,” said Muirhead.Next month Muirhead and fellow FHS students Brendan Thomas, Ian Ayers, Christian Lyman and Connor Schultze will be traveling to New York City for the Feb. 12-15 Mingus competition at the Manhattan School of Music.The student-directed band will be competing against finalists from The Rivers School in Weston and Rio Americano High School in Sacramento, Cal., playing the music of the legendary jazz pianist, bandleader and composer.

School music director Steve Massey said he’s especially proud of Muirhead and the other students’ accomplishment in entering and attaining a finalist position at the second annual Mingus competition. Students took the lead in suggesting a Foxboro entry and rehearsed on their own, beginning last summer, using their own arrangements.

The Charles Mingus High School Competition was open this year to high school jazz combos and big bands nationwide. (Last year’s competition, the first of its kind, was open to ensembles from the Northeast.) The goal of the competition is to provide an opportunity for high school music students to explore the enormously varied works of Charles Mingus and to find their own voices within the music. The finalists were chosen from high school jazz bands from across the country: California, Connecticut, Delaware, District of Columbia, Florida, Illinois, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Missouri, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Vermont, Washington, and Wisconsin.

In addition to the Charles Mingus High School Competition that took place on Sunday, the two-day Charles Mingus Festival included on Saturday, February 13, clinics given by members of the Mingus repertory bands, a student jam session, and a concert of Mingus’s music showcasing his blues and gospel roots. Performing the concert was the Mingus Orchestra, with Gunther Schuller and Harpist Edmar Castaneda, guest artist, given at New York City’s historic St. Bartholomew’s Church.

Charles Mingus, a virtuoso bassist, accomplished pianist and bandleader, is recognized as a major 20th-century composer, whose entire works have been acquired by the Library of Congress – a first for jazz, and a first for an African-American composer. He recorded more than 100 albums and composed more than 300 compositions, music that is still considered far ahead of its time, leaving behind the largest legacy of composition in American music after Duke Ellington. The Mingus Bands remain devoted to his vast repertoire and under the artistic direction of Sue Mingus, play to critical acclaim throughout the world. Their critical and popular successes are a testament to the power of Mingus’s composition. The availability of his music through published arrangements, educational books, school courses, and workshops, coupled with the hugely successful Charles Mingus High School Competition, have extended the reach of his legacy.

* * * * *
Below is a listing of the participating schools and the repertoire that they played:

★ CHARLES MINGUS FESTIVAL (Saturday and Sunday) The centerpiece of this weekend affair, celebrating the music and memory of the bassist-composer Charles Mingus, is a free concert at 7 p.m. on Saturday, featuring the Mingus Orchestra, conducted by Gunther Schuller, in a cathedral setting [St. Bart’s]. At Manhattan School of Music on Sunday the Charles Mingus High School Competition culminates in early-evening performances by the MSM’s Mingus Jazz Combo (at 5:30 p.m.) and the professional-grade Mingus Dynasty Band (at 6). MSM 122nd and Broadway, msmnyc.edu / St. Bartholomew’s Church, Park Avenue at 51st Street, (212) 378-0248, stbarts.org; free. (Chinen) (details corrected)

“It seems only right that entry would be free to this weekend’s tribute to Charles Mingus, who was inarguably one of jazz’s most irrepressible figures. The second annual Charles Mingus Festival starts Saturday at 12:15 p.m. with “Mingus Movies,” followed by a 2 p.m. rhythm, sax and brass clinic; a 3:30 p.m. jam session featuring high school musicians from all over the country; and a 7 p.m. Mingus Orchestra performance at St. Bartholomew’s Church (325 Park Ave., at 50th Street). The party continues Sunday with a 10 a.m. competition among high school jazz combos, a 2:15 p.m. battle of high school big bands, a performance by the Mingus Dynasty at 6 p.m. and, finally, a 6:30 p.m. awards ceremony for the bands that played earlier in the day. Except for Saturday’s concert, it all happens at Manhattan School of Music, 120 Claremont Avenue, at East 122nd St.; 212-749-2802, mingusmingusmingus.com.”